**World Bank Data Online**

Fred Zimmerman (Fred.Zimmerman@ciesin.org)
Fri, 19 May 1995 14:09:20 -0500

The following message has been cross-posted to multiple discussion lists
and news groups. Our apologies in advance to those readers who have seen
it more than once. Feel free to cross-post this information to RELEVANT
lists we may have missed.

The Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network
(CIESIN) and the World Bank are pleased to announce experimental Internet
access to two major World Bank datasets:

- Social Indicators of Development, 1994
(http://www.ciesin.org/IC/wbank/sid-home.html), and

- Trends in Developing Economies, 1994
(http://www.ciesin.org/IC/wbank/tde-home.html).

A positive response to this experiment from an active user community may
result in providing similar (or enhanced) Internet access to additional
World Bank datasets.

In each case, any user with a forms-capable World Wide Web browser (e.g.,
IBM Web View, Mosaic, Netscape, Prodigy) can directly query the contents
of these two important World Bank datasets. These datasets are also
searchable using CIESIN's Gateway -- a distributed search and retrieval
tool enabling access to a large collection of information about human
interactions in the environment. For more information on the Gateway, see
http://www.ciesin.org/gateway/gw-home.html .

"Social Indicators of Development" contains the World Bank's most detailed
data collection for assessing human welfare to provide a picture of the
social effects of economic development. Data are presented for more than
170 economies, omitting only those for which data are inadequate.
Emphasis in this publication is on country-by-country review. Up to 94
indicators are reported for each country including: size, growth, and
structure of population; determinants of population growth (including
data on fertility and infant mortality); labor force; education and
illiteracy; natural resources; income and poverty; expenditure on food,
housing, fuel and power, transport and communication; and investment in
medical care and education. Each of these indicators is broken into
several subcategories. Footnotes associated with the printed data are
preserved in the hypertext version so that users will be fully aware of
significant nuances associated with particular indicators and countries.

"Trends in Developing Economies" (TIDE) provides brief reports on most of
the World Bank's borrowing countries. This compendium of individual
country economic trends complements the World Bank's World Development
Report, which looks at major global and regional economic trends and their
implications for the future prospects of the developing economies. TIDE
digests information from national sources and adds staff commentary to
explain recent developments for the benefits of readers who are familiar
with macroeconomics but not, perhaps, with every country under review.

For further information contact:

CIESIN User Services telephone: +517-797-2727
2250 Pierce Road facsimile: +517-797-2622
University Center, MI 48710 email: ciesin.info@ciesin.org
United States of America URL: http://www.ciesin.org

The work described in this message was generously supported by the (U.S.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under grant NAGW-2901.